PALM BEACH, Fla. — Cystic fibrosis is a rare life-limiting disease that still has no cure. And for the people who suffer from it — every breath counts. In South Florida, there’s a new partnership lessening the burden for patients that starts in their home.
Haylie is like most three-year-olds. One second she wants to cook — the next she wants to swing. But one thing she can’t control on her own is a very serious health disease.
”A common cold could hospitalize her,” said Ryan Viamontes, Haylie’s father. “It’s the unknown. What’s to come.”
Haylie has cystic fibrosis-- a chronic respiratory progressive disease that could cause life-threatening lung infections and problems with digestion.
”It could potentially knock years off of her life,” said Haylie’s mom, Nikki.
Even going shopping posed risks well before COVID-19.
”We certainly limit where we go — we navigate aisles a little more differently than the average person. We don’t just go up and down aisles — is there someone there? Let’s go up this one and maybe come back to this one,” Ryan said.
But public spaces aren’t the only enemy.
”According to the EPA indoor air is often three to five times more polluted than outdoor air. And so that’s why it’s so vitally important to keep the lungs in your home just as clean as the lungs in your body,” said Michael Scalera, Stanley Steemer of South Florida director of business development.
Scalera’s technicians travel to to the homes of cystic fibrosis patients to clean air handling systems, vents and to provide a hospital grade anti-bacterial disinfectant and anti-allergen.
”From the Treasure Coast — Sebastian all the way down to Miami,” he said.
Travis Suit is CEO and founder of Piper’s Angels Foundation. It offers over a half-dozen programs from life-expanding activities to urgent financial assistance to families dealing with cystic fibrosis.
”There weren’t a lot of opportunities for families to support, empower and help each other,” Suit said. “So we created Piper’s Angel’s Foundation in 2017 with a mission to support and empower families with cystic fibrosis.”
His daughter, Piper has cystic fibrosis. The new strategic partnership with Stanley Steemer of South Florida is part of the foundation’s commitment to “inspire every breath.”
“And to understand how valuable our time is,” Suit said.
If you or someone you know is living with cystic fibrosis and would like to be part of a community dedicated to helping patients and their families, visit here: https://www.pipersangels.org/